12 MO milk feeds

[Tee20x]

Hi all, just a quick one - how many milk feeds are/were your 12 MOs on? Mine is a terrible eater and I'm wondering whether it's because she fills up on milk and then doesn't want to eat proper meals. Feeding is currently:

Milk on waking up
Breakfast
Lunch
Milk before afternoon nap
Dinner
Milk before bed

Haven't put times because it really depends on when she wakes up, length of nap etc. For the last 2 weeks she's only been having 1 nap a day but she typically feeds to sleep so prior to this she would have milk before lunch at the morning nap.

She's never been a massive eater but we were progressing with breakfast and dinner. Lunch has always been the worst and I'm thinking it's because she's already had milk and breakfast so maybe not be too hungry? But at the moment she is barely eating anything at all. Picks at lunch, picks at dinner. The only thing she will 100% is fruit. Other than that it can be hit or miss.

The reason I ask is because she's starting nursery next week and I'm wondering what to do in relation to her milk feeds & I'm so worried about her starving (not literally) or going hungry as she will be there all day :(

I wouldn't worry too much about that and it'll be interesting to see what the nursery thinks. I might try to discourage and phase out the mid day milk. Have you started to give it in a cup instead of a bottle? By this age I would expect a morning milk and a bed time milk, prior to teeth cleaning. You're very close to that! My boy ate a lot but my daughter seems fine on not much food at all.

Anyway, the nursery will feed milk as needed won't they? They'll have bottles and what not. I'd give them a quick call to discuss if you're worried. They won't let her starve or suffer for the sake of some milk!

Our nursery takes details of the babies current routine and had a good long chat with us. But tbh, our boy's routine changed at nursery and we adopted the new one when at home. It sounds like your baby is doing really well to me.

Could you drop the first milk feed abs go straight to breakfast instead?

I'm still breastfeeding so she's with me majority of the time. Because of that she has it direct from the breast instead of from a bottle/cup. Nursery have talked with me about her current routine and when she has milk but I'm just still so concerned! I think it's because I'm finally having to let go of the reigns and won't be able to see how much she's eating/drinking :(

I've expressed some milk to give in tomorrow for her so will see whether she drinks it. Trouble is as well I don't know how much she drinks as obviously I can't see how much my boob has made!

I've expressed around 250ml to give in tomorrow & have also given them a tin of prescribed formula as she has cows milk allergy.

I can tell I'm way over thinking this but can't bare the thought of her being hungry :(

I have considered dropping the first feed and going straight to breakfast tbh. The main reason why she has it is because I try and feed her back to sleep to get an extra hour of sleep 🌚🌚🌚

I’d drop the afternoon feed if anything. At least on nursery days you can still feed her morning and night. My DD was still having 3 feeds (formula fed though) up until 16 months. I dropped the afternoon feed when she started messing around at dinner. Can also try giving breakfast upon waking and milk in a cup or breastfeed after breakfast but I found my DD prefers milk upon waking even still does at 19 months.

@Tee20x I literally could have written this myself.

My little girl just turned 1 and is still on a lot of milk. I am struggling to know how to cut it down as she doesn't really eat that much, just seems to play around with it and drop on the floor.

She also starts nursery in two weeks, so I'm sort of hoping she will start to eat more there amongst other children and drop the milk.

Fingers crossed

She might start eating more at nursery as all the other children will be eating. And the milk might be less appealing if she’s not being breastfed (at nursery).

I wouldn’t drop the first feed personally because she’ll be so hungry first thing that she might be too hungry/annoyed to want to eat breakfast.

@ceebee21 it's hard isn't it! It's like a vicious circle - because she plays around with her food, I don't want her to starve so am happy to keep the milk feeds. But then am thinking it's the milk that's filling her up which makes her not want to eat her food!!

Hopefully she is influenced by the other kids at nursery and starts eating a decent amount :(

On reflection if she's going to Nursery I wouldn't drop the first BF either.

I think you are right though that she's filling up on milk

Hopefully she starts eating more once she settles into nursery and watches the other kids. Had a call from nursery at 1 to say she hadn't eaten anything - gave her breakfast at about 8.30 so it's been a while. They tried lunch & expressed milk in a cup but apparently she refused both.

Said I'm not really surprised as even at home lunches and dinners can be hit and miss and a lot of the time she will refuse. They said they'd try her with some toast and fruit to see if they could fill her up until I pick her up at 3.

Will see what the update is when I arrive

She will be ok. Did she want a big feed when you picked her up?